Chords for Townes Van Zandt - The Story Behind "Pancho & Lefty"
Tempo:
78.775 bpm
Chords used:
E
D
Em
A
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Let me tell this, I have one little story, a true story, about how I came to write the
song Pancho and Lefty.
I was playing one time a three-day show in Dallas, Texas, and it so happened that on
the same three days, Billy Graham and the Guru Maharajee were both playing three days in Dallas.
So, Billy Graham drew like 500,000 young Christians from all over the world, and the Guru had
about 250,000 young Gurus from all over the world.
And I had, you know, seven winos from downtown.
Anyway, but because of all these young Christians and young Gurus, there were no hotel rooms
anywhere 50 miles from Dallas.
So my friend and I, Daniel, had to go 50 miles, and we finally found this place.
It had no TV, no Coke machine, it had a swimming pool that had a big crack in it, you know.
Anyway, nothing to do, not a very fun place.
And the second day we were there, I just sat down in a chair and decided, well, I'm not
going to move from here until I write a song.
And I sat there for about three hours, three and a half hours, and Pancho and Lefty kind
of drifted through the window and I wrote it down, or else I'd still be sitting there.
Anyway, here's a funny part of the story.
Daniel was a real, he was even, he wasn't even a hippie, he was a flower child.
Whole different ball game.
He had hair about to his elbows, and I didn't look too straight myself, I'm sure.
The only ID that Daniel had was a Georgia driver's license that had been expired for
like 11 years.
And he'd just forgotten to go ever go get another one.
And the only ID that I had was a record album, had my name and my picture right there on it.
I figured that's all right.
So we're driving into the last night of the good old Dallas job, and Daniel's driving,
and we're in this old broken down car, and he's swerving like all over the highway, right?
Because he never drank in the least or anything like that, but he was missing, you know, all
these young Christians that were all hitchhiking in to see Billy Grant.
There were like hundreds of them, thousands of them on the side of the road.
And we had a Dallas cop, big Dallas cop, sees us swerving down the road in this broken down car.
He pulls us over, and he comes up to the window, and he looks in, and he sees Daniel.
He looks over and he sees me.
He says, I better see some ID, boys.
He's got like mirror shades, you know, a flat hat, whatever.
So Daniel hands him his expired Georgia driver's license.
Dear cop is looking, I mean, [E] scowling at it, you know.
And Daniel, out of the blue, looks up at the policeman through the window.
He says, excuse me, sir, [N] do you know Jesus?
Wow.
And the cop looks at him, hands him back his driver's license, says, you boys be careful.
He was that.
[D] Anyway, [Em] that's how it always is.
I kind of figure, you know, that Billy Graham and the guru kind of co-wrote this song, but
I didn't know.
I never heard anything from them, [A] so.
song Pancho and Lefty.
I was playing one time a three-day show in Dallas, Texas, and it so happened that on
the same three days, Billy Graham and the Guru Maharajee were both playing three days in Dallas.
So, Billy Graham drew like 500,000 young Christians from all over the world, and the Guru had
about 250,000 young Gurus from all over the world.
And I had, you know, seven winos from downtown.
Anyway, but because of all these young Christians and young Gurus, there were no hotel rooms
anywhere 50 miles from Dallas.
So my friend and I, Daniel, had to go 50 miles, and we finally found this place.
It had no TV, no Coke machine, it had a swimming pool that had a big crack in it, you know.
Anyway, nothing to do, not a very fun place.
And the second day we were there, I just sat down in a chair and decided, well, I'm not
going to move from here until I write a song.
And I sat there for about three hours, three and a half hours, and Pancho and Lefty kind
of drifted through the window and I wrote it down, or else I'd still be sitting there.
Anyway, here's a funny part of the story.
Daniel was a real, he was even, he wasn't even a hippie, he was a flower child.
Whole different ball game.
He had hair about to his elbows, and I didn't look too straight myself, I'm sure.
The only ID that Daniel had was a Georgia driver's license that had been expired for
like 11 years.
And he'd just forgotten to go ever go get another one.
And the only ID that I had was a record album, had my name and my picture right there on it.
I figured that's all right.
So we're driving into the last night of the good old Dallas job, and Daniel's driving,
and we're in this old broken down car, and he's swerving like all over the highway, right?
Because he never drank in the least or anything like that, but he was missing, you know, all
these young Christians that were all hitchhiking in to see Billy Grant.
There were like hundreds of them, thousands of them on the side of the road.
And we had a Dallas cop, big Dallas cop, sees us swerving down the road in this broken down car.
He pulls us over, and he comes up to the window, and he looks in, and he sees Daniel.
He looks over and he sees me.
He says, I better see some ID, boys.
He's got like mirror shades, you know, a flat hat, whatever.
So Daniel hands him his expired Georgia driver's license.
Dear cop is looking, I mean, [E] scowling at it, you know.
And Daniel, out of the blue, looks up at the policeman through the window.
He says, excuse me, sir, [N] do you know Jesus?
Wow.
And the cop looks at him, hands him back his driver's license, says, you boys be careful.
He was that.
[D] Anyway, [Em] that's how it always is.
I kind of figure, you know, that Billy Graham and the guru kind of co-wrote this song, but
I didn't know.
I never heard anything from them, [A] so.
Key:
E
D
Em
A
E
D
Em
A
_ _ _ _ _ _ Let me tell this, I have one little story, a true story, about how I came to write the
song Pancho and Lefty.
I was playing one time a three-day show in Dallas, Texas, and it so happened that on
the same three days, Billy Graham and the Guru Maharajee were both playing three days in Dallas.
_ So, Billy Graham drew like 500,000 young Christians from all over the world, and the Guru had
about 250,000 young Gurus from all over the world.
And I had, you know, seven winos from downtown.
_ _ _ _ Anyway, but because of all these young Christians and young Gurus, there were no hotel rooms
anywhere 50 miles from Dallas.
So my friend and I, Daniel, had to go 50 miles, and we finally found this place.
It had no TV, no Coke machine, it had a swimming pool that had a big crack in it, you know.
Anyway, nothing to do, not a very fun place.
And the second day we were there, I just sat down in a chair and decided, well, I'm not
going to move from here until I write a song.
And I sat there for about three hours, three and a half hours, and Pancho and Lefty kind
of drifted through the window and I wrote it down, or else I'd still be sitting there. _ _
Anyway, here's a funny part of the story.
Daniel was a real, he was even, he wasn't even a hippie, he was a flower child.
_ Whole different ball game.
He had hair about to his elbows, and I didn't look too straight myself, I'm sure.
The only ID that Daniel had was a Georgia driver's license that had been expired for
like 11 years.
And he'd just forgotten to go ever go get another one.
And the only ID that I had was a record album, had my name and my picture right there on it.
_ I figured that's all right.
_ So we're driving into the last night of the good old Dallas job, and Daniel's driving,
and we're in this old broken down car, and he's swerving like all over the highway, right?
Because he never drank in the least or anything like that, but he was missing, you know, all
these young Christians that were all hitchhiking in to see Billy Grant.
There were like hundreds of them, thousands of them on the side of the road.
And we had a Dallas cop, big Dallas cop, sees us swerving down the road in this broken down car.
He pulls us over, and he comes up to the window, and he looks in, and he sees Daniel.
He looks over and he sees me.
He says, I better see some ID, boys.
He's got like mirror shades, you know, a flat hat, whatever.
So Daniel hands him his expired Georgia driver's license.
Dear cop is looking, I mean, [E] scowling at it, you know.
And Daniel, out of the blue, looks up at the policeman through the window.
He says, excuse me, sir, [N] do you know Jesus?
_ _ _ Wow.
And the cop looks at him, hands him back his driver's license, says, you boys be careful. _ _
He was that.
_ [D] Anyway, [Em] that's how it always is.
I kind of figure, you know, that Billy Graham and the guru kind of co-wrote this song, but
I didn't know.
I never heard anything from them, [A] so. _ _ _ _
song Pancho and Lefty.
I was playing one time a three-day show in Dallas, Texas, and it so happened that on
the same three days, Billy Graham and the Guru Maharajee were both playing three days in Dallas.
_ So, Billy Graham drew like 500,000 young Christians from all over the world, and the Guru had
about 250,000 young Gurus from all over the world.
And I had, you know, seven winos from downtown.
_ _ _ _ Anyway, but because of all these young Christians and young Gurus, there were no hotel rooms
anywhere 50 miles from Dallas.
So my friend and I, Daniel, had to go 50 miles, and we finally found this place.
It had no TV, no Coke machine, it had a swimming pool that had a big crack in it, you know.
Anyway, nothing to do, not a very fun place.
And the second day we were there, I just sat down in a chair and decided, well, I'm not
going to move from here until I write a song.
And I sat there for about three hours, three and a half hours, and Pancho and Lefty kind
of drifted through the window and I wrote it down, or else I'd still be sitting there. _ _
Anyway, here's a funny part of the story.
Daniel was a real, he was even, he wasn't even a hippie, he was a flower child.
_ Whole different ball game.
He had hair about to his elbows, and I didn't look too straight myself, I'm sure.
The only ID that Daniel had was a Georgia driver's license that had been expired for
like 11 years.
And he'd just forgotten to go ever go get another one.
And the only ID that I had was a record album, had my name and my picture right there on it.
_ I figured that's all right.
_ So we're driving into the last night of the good old Dallas job, and Daniel's driving,
and we're in this old broken down car, and he's swerving like all over the highway, right?
Because he never drank in the least or anything like that, but he was missing, you know, all
these young Christians that were all hitchhiking in to see Billy Grant.
There were like hundreds of them, thousands of them on the side of the road.
And we had a Dallas cop, big Dallas cop, sees us swerving down the road in this broken down car.
He pulls us over, and he comes up to the window, and he looks in, and he sees Daniel.
He looks over and he sees me.
He says, I better see some ID, boys.
He's got like mirror shades, you know, a flat hat, whatever.
So Daniel hands him his expired Georgia driver's license.
Dear cop is looking, I mean, [E] scowling at it, you know.
And Daniel, out of the blue, looks up at the policeman through the window.
He says, excuse me, sir, [N] do you know Jesus?
_ _ _ Wow.
And the cop looks at him, hands him back his driver's license, says, you boys be careful. _ _
He was that.
_ [D] Anyway, [Em] that's how it always is.
I kind of figure, you know, that Billy Graham and the guru kind of co-wrote this song, but
I didn't know.
I never heard anything from them, [A] so. _ _ _ _